Oil loadings from Black Sea ports remain suspended, exporters redirect flows - traders

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port PAO

29/11/2023 17:18

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Oil loadings from the Black
Sea port of Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium
(CPC) terminal have not resumed due to an ongoing storm forcing
exporters to look for alternative routes, three sources familiar
with exports told Reuters on Wednesday.
    Novorossiysk and the CPC terminal account for about 2
million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Russia and Kazakhstan.
    "A storm warning is in effect in Novorossiysk. It is
raining, and the wave height is from 2 to 4 meters," said a
source at the port, adding that the situation at the CPC
terminal sitting some 15 kilometres west of Novorossiysk is
similar.
    The delay in oil exports from Novorossiysk for November
exceeded 1 million metric tons as of Wednesday, one of the
sources said. The initial export plan was 2.42 million tons.
    Russian and Kazakh producers are seeking to redirect oil
flows to other destinations, in particular to Russia's Baltic
ports, but such opportunities are limited due to high demand.
    One of the sources in a company involved in CPC Blend oil
loadings said that all possible alternative export options had
been studied, but the issue was so sudden it was really
difficult to divert volumes.
    Russian oil exporters plan to cut supplies to Novorossiysk
in December as a large volume of shipments is expected to be
postponed for loadings slowing exports for the next month.
    Oil exporters from Russia and Kazakhstan can also redirect
oil volumes from Novorossiysk to Druzhba oil pipeline, a trader
involved in Russian oil trading said. However, such supplies
might be curbed by export quarterly schedule limits and European
refiners' demand.
    Kazakhstan supplies oil to Germany. It is expected to ramp
up supplies to 150,000 tons in November and 200,000 tons in
December from the typical 100,000 tons per month.
    Russian companies supply oil to the Czech Republic, Slovakia
and Hungary, which received an exception from the EU embargo on
Russian oil.
    

 (Reporting by Reuters
Editing by Matthew Lewis)